Minnesota

Two interesting grant opportunities came my way this week that everyone should know about.

 The first if from Ag Star Grants for Rural America.

AgStar Grants Available to Support Agricultural and Rural Interests

The AgStar Fund for Rural America, a corporate-giving program of AgStar Financial Services, is proud to announce they are accepting grant applications to support farmers and rural residents. Up to $10,000 is available per organization in one of AgStar’s four focus areas: Education, Environment, Technology or Quality of Life. “Committed to enhancing the quality of life and future opportunities for rural residents and their communities” is the mission of the Fund.  It was created to demonstrate our support for agriculture and the rural communities within our service area.   To date, the AgStar Fund has contributed over $1.7 million to support rural America in our service area. This grant application allows AgStar to continue its mission and support organizations working to benefit farmers and rural areas.

For more information regarding the grant application process please visit agstar.com. Applications must be completed on-line and will be accepted through November 30, 2008. Organizations receiving a grant will be notified in March 2009. Through this grant program and the other programs of the AgStar Fund, we are helping to ensure a strong future in rural America.More details on AgStar’s Fund for Rural America Grant Program. 

For questions, contact Jody Bloemke via email at jody.bloemke@agstar.com or call 507-345-5656.

And the second one is from the Otto Bremer Foundation http://www.ottobremer.org/.  Keep in mind that in order to be eligible to apply, your community has to be a Bremer Bank community.  You can access the grant posting by clicking on the link below.

Bremer Foundation Emergency Assistance Fund

Horizons II communities successfully completed the 18-month program and Horizons staff  want to share two documents developed that highlight the many successes the communities accomplished.  The first is a report on activities around the three outcome areas of Horizons - leadership development, poverty reduction, and community/partnership/infrastructure development.  You can access this report by clicking on:  Action on Horizons Outcomes 

The second document highlight the findings from the pre and post test done in the communities during the study circle and LeadershipPlenty components of the program.  You can access this report by going to Community Evaluation Results of Pre and Post Tests

 Amazing work by amazing people that reinforces our belief that Minnesota is the best place to live!